The new face of adoption

Published Mar 12, 2001

Share

The nature of adoption has changed dramatically in recent times.

Some adoptive parents meet the biological parents of their children and can sometimes be present at the birth of their children.

Closer contacts between adoptees and their birth parents are now legally possible.

For these reasons fairly comprehensive documentation is now kept with the registrar of adoptions in Pretoria and with the various adoption agencies.

The forms kept in Pretoria are legal documents which may not be destroyed. The registrar keeps:

- The consent form of the biological parents

- The application for adoption of the adoptive parents

- The social worker's report on the adoptive parents

- The social worker's detailed profile of the birth parents in the case of some private adoptions.

In the case of agency adoptions like Johannesburg Child Welfare, this profile is kept in that agency's archives (storage depot).

The social worker's profile contains as much identifying detail as possible of the birth parents' family, background history, interests, hobbies and circumstances of the adoption.

Details such as birth dates, identification numbers and the full names of the birth mother's parents are recorded if available.

This aids tracing if the birth mother marries and changes her name. If some of the above information is not available, the Department of Home Affairs is able to provide some assistance. A photograph of the birth parents, though rare, completes the adopted child's background story.

In his adult life these documents are of vital importance to the adopted child if he feels the need to trace his roots.

The registrar of adoptions reports that 90 percent of the children are successful in finding their birth mothers. Sixty percent of the birth mothers are not willing to make contact.

Most adoptees say that they have come from fantastic homes and they do not want their adoptive parents to know about their search for fear of upsetting them.

People who search are not looking for love, but for more background details to complete the picture of themselves.

It makes it easier for adoptees if they have the support of their families, but they do not want to stress or hurt their parents.

Johannesburg Child Welfare can make available an informative audio tape, made in America, entitled "Preparing adoptive children for their search for their origins". - NAPI

Our contact directory can help.

Related Topics: